U.S. Senator Jon Ossoff heard more testimony of allegations of abuse of pregnant and post-partum women in prisons. This time Ossoff focused on women in Georgia prisons and jails.
“The Subcommittee sustains its focus on the humanitarian crisis behind bars in the State of Georgia and the United States because this is, in my view, the most extreme civil rights problem happening in the U.S. today,” according to Ossoff.
Wednesday’s meeting was the second in the investigation by the U.S. Senate Human Rights Subcommittee. One witness, Tiana Hill, testified that staff at the Clayton County Jail did not assist her until she went into early labor.
“Instead of taking me to the doctor, they held me in the jail. I had to lay on a hard metal bed while going through labor pain,” Hill said. “My baby was in the NICU. They allowed me to see him, but I was handcuffed to a wheelchair. That was it — that was all the time I had with my son.”
Hill’s son died five days after birth. A second witness, Tabitha Trammell, who is a doula and advocate for incarnated pregnant and post-partum women testified about her treatment 40 years ago.
“Throughout my pregnancy, I was in so much pain.” Trammell testified. “I was always hungry because the jail and prison staff would never give me enough food. I was threatened with solitary confinement if I complained about being in pain or needing to see a doctor. I was placed in solitary confinement repeatedly.”
Ossoff said the government at the federal, state, and local levels, is obligated to act.
